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'However old we become, we yet feel within ourselves that we are absolutely the same as we were when we were young.

This thing, which is unaltered and always remains absolutely the same, which does not grow old with us, is just the kernel of our inner nature, and that does not lie in time.

We are accustomed to regard the subject of knowing, 'the knowing I', as our real self. This, however, is the mere function of the brain, and is not our real self. Our true self is that which produces that other thing, which does not sleep, when it sleeps; which also remains unimpaired when that other thing becomes extinct in death.

The Will itself is still exactly the same now as then. The Will itself, alone and by itself, endures; for it alone is unchangeable, indestructible, does not grow old, is not physical but metaphysical, does not belong to the phenomenal appearance, but to the 'thing in in itself'.'

'Gradually, as the Summer turned to Autumn the visits became more frequent, and finally Jane had to tell Peter that there would be no more visits to play with the toys, as 'Auntie' Ivy had died.

And if 'Auntie' Ivy could die, then so could Jane or John, and then what would happen to Peter ?'

"Et in Arcadia ego" is a Latin phrase that appears as the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). They are pastoral paintings depicting idealized shepherds clustering around an austere tomb.

The translation of the phrase is "Even in Arcadia, there am I". The usual interpretation is that "I" refers to death, and "Arcadia" means a utopian land.

It was then that Peter realized that they were not birds but small 'people', about the same size as he was, but with big heads and very big eyes, and it must have been the eyes that had made him think initially that they were owls – or perhaps they had disguised themselves as owls.

These little people were extremely thin and in the dim glow of the night-light appeared to be greyish in colour.

At first they just sat and stood around, looking at Peter with their huge, dark eyes. Later they started to play and dance around in a strangely stiff, awkward manner.

Initially Peter was terrified, but as the nights passed he realized that the visitors meant him no harm.

It was then that Peter realized that they were not birds but small 'people', about the same size as he was, but with big heads and very big eyes, and it must have been the eyes that had made him think initially that they were owls – or perhaps they had disguised themselves as owls.

These little people were extremely thin and in the dim glow of the night-light appeared to be greyish in colour.

At first they just sat and stood around, looking at Peter with their huge, dark eyes. Later they started to play and dance around in a strangely stiff, awkward manner.

Initially Peter was terrified, but as the nights passed he realized that the visitors meant him no harm.

The Fatima UFO Hypothesis is a theory that the 'Miracle of the Sun at Fatima' was a UFO incident. Many UFO researchers including Jacques Vallee, Joaquim Fernandes and Fina d'Armada have expressed the theory. Jacques Vallee first expressed it in the sixties.

On October 13th 50,000 to 70,000 people gathered at Cova da Iria to observe the alleged miracle. Someone counted over 100 cars and over 100 bicycles and there were more that lined the road. This included a diverse group of people including city people, Professors, farmers, house wives, atheists and Christians. the population of Portugal was about 72% illiterate at that time. Many of the witnesses claimed they saw a disc; others said it was the sun. The object appeared to come down to the crowd well within the Earth's atmosphere. This could also be seen from several surrounding towns in different directions including Alburitel, Minde, Aljustrel, Leira and Torres Novas. Most of the witnesses from these towns claimed they saw the object in the direction of Cova da Iria. Dr Joao Lopes Pires concluded that if this object moved it couldn't have been the sun since it would have affected the orbits of the planets and it would have been seen all over the world not just in Fatima.

If Schrödinger's cat had been a kitten, could he have contemplated his thought experiment ? After all, a dead/alive cat is one thing, but dead kittens are really unnacceptable.

With no cat could there have been the 'uncertainty principle' ?

Perhaps Heisenberg would have just stuck with composing music.

And so no quantum physics - which would mean that your mobile phone wouldn't work !

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger

12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961) was a physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. In 1935, after extensive correspondence with personal friend Albert Einstein, he proposed the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.

Werner Heisenberg

(5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory. In addition, he made important contributions to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, and particle physics.

Heisenberg, along with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, set forth the matrix formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925. Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics, and its application especially to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen.

Following World War II, he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, which was soon thereafter renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics. He was director of the institute until it was moved to Munich in 1958, when it was expanded and renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics.

Heisenberg was also president of the German Research Council, chairman of the Commission for Atomic Physics, chairman of the Nuclear Physics Working Group, and president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Albert Einstein

14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.

He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.

Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.

Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom.

He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning after eating a poisoned apple.

An inquest determined it was suicide.

On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.

Alan Turing's favourite fairytale was 'Snowhite' - hence the apple a symbol classically used to represent forbidden love, the cause of Snowhite's sleep - and the means of Turing's own death - and perhaps the song 'Someday my Prince will come" from the Disney cartoon sums up Turing's emotional life - his hopeless wait for the return of Christopher.

The logo of Apple computer is often referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing, with the bite mark a reference to his method of suicide.

Both the designer of the logo and the company deny that there is any homage to Turing in the design of the logo - but then they would !

The Holy Lance (also known as the Spear of Destiny, Holy Spear, Lance of Longinus, Spear of Longinus or Spear of Christ) is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus's side as he hung on the cross in John's account of the Crucifixion.

The Holy Roman Emperors had a lance of their own, attested from the time of Otto I (912-973).

In 1000 Otto III gave Boleslaw I of Poland a replica of the Lance at the Congress of Gniezno. In 1084 Henry IV had a silver band with the inscription "Nail of Our Lord" added to it. This was based on the belief that this was the lance of Constantine the Great which enshrined a nail used for the Crucifixion. In 1273 it was first used in the coronation ceremony.

Around 1350 Charles IV had a golden sleeve put over the silver one, inscribed "Lancea et clavus Domini" (Lance and nail of the Lord).

In 1424 Sigismund had a collection of relics, including the lance, moved from his capital in Prague to his birth place, Nuremberg, and decreed them to be kept there forever.

This collection was called the Reichskleinodien or Imperial Regalia.

When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796 the city councilors decided to remove the Reichskleinodien to Vienna for safe keeping.

The collection was entrusted to one "Baron von Hügel", who promised to return the objects as soon as peace had been restored and the safety of the collection assured. However, the Holy Roman Empire was disbanded in 1806 and the Reichskleinodien remained in the keeping of the Habsburgs. When the city councilors asked for the Reichskleinodien back, they were refused.

As part of the imperial regalia it was kept in the Imperial Treasury Schatzkammer (Vienna), and was known as the lance of Saint Maurice.

During the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed to Germany, the Reichskleinodien were returned to Nuremberg and afterwards hidden. They were found by invading U.S. troops and returned to Austria by American General George S. Patton after World War II.

In his opera 'Parsifal', Richard Wagner identifies the Holy Spear with two items that appear in Wolfram von Eschenbach's medieval poem Parzival, a bleeding spear in the Castle of the Grail and the spear that has wounded the Fisher King.

The opera's plot concerns the consequences of the spear's loss by the Knights of the Grail and its recovery by Parsifal. Having decided that the blood on the Spear was that of the wounded Saviour - Christ is never named in the opera - Wagner has the blood manifest itself in the Grail rather than on the spearhead.

Everything you need to know is there - choosing a gym, ultimate nutrition, what to wear in the gym and the pool, principles of aerobic and resistance training, exercise schedules, plus a gallery of perfect physiques - and much more !

'The Story of Gracchus tells the tale of a young Roman boy, brought up in Athens. When his father is recalled to Rome, at the end of the Reign of the Emperor Nero, Marcus, and his father and mother travel from Piraeus (the port of Athens) to Brundisium (in South East Italy) by boat. They newer reach their destination, however, as the boat they are traveling on is attacked by pirates.Marcus' mother and father are cruelly killed, and Marcus is taken, by the pirates, to Cydonia, in Crete, where he is sold as a slave to a slave-dealer called Arion. Arion sells on Marcus to a 'mystery buyer' at a fabulously high price, and after a high speed journey through the night, Marcus and Terentius, - the 'mystery buyer', arrive at a magnificent Villa in Baiae, near Neápolis. It is there that Marcus' adventures begin ..........

Many Chapters are now available - plus a 'Preface', with information regarding Roman Society of the period,

plus critical articles featuring fictional stories of the period, plus more recent historical novels and recent TV series and movies.

Everything you need to know is there - choosing a gym, ultimate nutrition, what to wear in the gym and the pool, principles of aerobic and resistance training, exercise schedules, a gallery of perfect physiques - and much more !